More on the gillnet proposal

Guilty of crabbing in preserve

The captain of a commercial crab vessel was sentenced by the Sonoma County Superior Court for a misdemeanor violation committed while taking Dungeness crab from inside the Stewarts Point State Marine Reserve.

Remembering the dead

The Coast Guard honored the crews of the 52-motor lifeboat Triumph and the 38-foot fishing vessel Mermaid during a memorial service at Station Cape Disappointment in Ilwaco. Five Coast Guard members and the two-man crew of the Mermaid were lost when severe weather sank both vessels, Jan. 12, 1961.

Boom-bust salmon

Fishermen angry over gillnet ban

But as the political controversy over gillnetting and the competition with sports fishermen have built to a climax, Kuller and other gillnetters on the Lower Columbia are losing faith that a new Columbia River fisheries plan will leave a place for them and their way of life.

Editorial: Get over it!

We hope this legal challenge fails. It's time for the relatively few gillnetters -- only about 200 along the Columbia -- to accept a fate that has loomed inevitable during a dispute that has spanned several decades.

Cal crabbers begin

Time to save the Coast Guard

Despite its vital and omnipresent role protecting America's shores and our mariners from harm, the Coast Guard's budget has been steadily declining in recent years, even as its role has expanded to include maritime homeland security.

Protecting NW coho and steelhead

Canada cuts Natives on salmon panel

The federal government has allowed the only two First Nations appointments to a Canada-U.S. commission that manages Pacific salmon to lapse, prompting aboriginal fishermen to accuse Ottawa of shutting them out.

CG staged in Bering Sea

Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak temporarily deployed two MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crews to St. Paul, Alaska, to safeguard the crab fleet and other fishing vessels engaged in winter fisheries in Southwestern Alaska.

Saying goodbye to gillnetting

But as the political controversy over gillnetting and the competition with sports fishermen have built to a climax, Kuller and other gillnetters on the Lower Columbia are losing faith that a new Columbia River fisheries plan will leave a place for them and their way of life.

Get over it!

(Our link to this item failed Tuesday.) Fish wheels — which capture fish much like mill wheels convert rivers into power — were outlawed on the Columbia River in the 1930s for a couple of compelling reasons. They represented an outdated system that, essentially, was too efficient in killing some species of fish whose populations were at risk.

Grounding under investigation

Managers must be enviros

Fisheries managers should sharpen their ability to spot environmental conditions that hamper or help fish stocks, rather than assuming that having a certain abundance of fish assures how much can be sustainably harvested.

Cold storage in Astoria

Renegade oil rig a warning

The grounding of Shell Oil's Kulluk drill rig reminds us again of Alaska's tough maritime conditions and our vulnerability from coastal shipping and oil activities in the Arctic and around Kodiak, the Aleutians and Southcentral Alaska.

Raising Homer boat

The Coast Guard plans on overseeing work to get the sunken F/V Leading Lady to the surface, weather permitting, but more than two weeks has now passed as fuel spilled into the sensitive waters of Jakolof Bay.

Women discuss fishing

Women in Fisheries will be the topic of the Sitka Marine Heritage Society's annual meeting/presentation, beginning at 6 p.m. Feb. 7 in Centennial Hall. Tele Aadsen, Linda Behnken, Pat Kehoe, Marie Laws, Coral Pendell, and Linda Danner will be featured. Eric Jordan will moderate the panel. The evening is free and open to the public.

New McFish bites

Alaska Fisheries Report

Coming up this week, King salmon is again the topic du jour in two parts of the state – and in Washington, D.C. We get an update on the Southeast crab fishery. And wouldn't you like to be on the International Pacific Halibut Commission?

MSC renewal for albacore

Consumers in the United States and in markets around the world can continue to recognize and reward sustainable fresh, frozen and canned albacore tuna from the American Albacore Fishing Association, based in San Diego.

Community grants available

The Community Advisory Board (CAB) of American Seafoods Company announced it is now accepting applications for its Alaska community grant program. The deadline to submit applications is February 6, 2013.